Business category, Page 225
Dick’s Sporting Goods bucks trend, will open 11 brick-and-mortar locations in 9 states
Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods will open 11 stores in nine states, including five of its recently unveiled warehouse and outlet stores, the company announced Friday. Two of the traditional stores will be in Massachusetts, along with one in New Jersey and another in Texas. The sports and outdoors retailer also...
Wall Street perks up; S&P 500 edges even closer to record
NEW YORK — Stocks are perking higher on Wall Street Thursday after a report showed the pace of layoffs across the country is slowing, though it remains incredibly high. The S&P 500 was up 0.6% in afternoon trading after spending much of the day waffling between smaller gains and losses....
Loves Furniture hiring to staff some of former Levin’s sites acquired in bankruptcy court
Loves Furniture, a new retail chain that formed when a private equity firm recently bought 27 Art Van, Levin and Wolf outlets in bankruptcy court, is looking to hire 1,000 workers in three states — including people to staff at the Mt. Pleasant store that for a century served as...
Clorox wipes will be hard to find through the rest of 2020
Clorox wipes are the new toilet paper. You’ll have a hard time finding the brand of cleaning wipes until early next year, company officials said in an earnings call Tuesday. Linda Rendle, CEO-elect for the Clorox Co., said they will continue to ramp up production through the rest of the...
Vegan frozen dessert sold at Aldi recalled for possible allergen
A vegan frozen dessert sold at Aldi has been recalled because it may contain a potential allergen. SmithFoods Inc. is voluntarily recalling 16-oz. pint packages of Earth Grown Vegan Non-Dairy Almond Based Frozen Desserts because it may contain cashews, which are not listed on the label, according to an announcement...
Ford CEO Hackett to retire, COO Jim Farley to lead automaker
DETROIT — Ford Chief Operating Officer Jim Farley will lead the storied automaker into the future starting Oct. 1 when current CEO Jim Hackett retires. The company has struggled in recent years and is in the midst of an $11 billion restructuring plan designed to make it leaner and crank...
EU regulators investigate Google’s plan to buy Fitbit
LONDON — European Union regulators say they’re opening an in-depth investigation into U.S. tech giant Google’s plan to buy fitness tracking device maker Fitbit. The EU’s executive commission said Tuesday it’s concerned the deal would entrench Google’s position in the online ad market by “increasing the already vast amount of...
John Dorfman: My Sane Portfolio takes it on the chin
The market battered my Sane Portfolio in the past 12 months, as it posted its worst result ever. The Sane Portfolio is intended to provide investment ideas for middle-of-the-road, slightly conservative investors. I’ve been compiling this theoretical portfolio each August since 1999, with a three-year hiatus in 2007 through 2009....
Kennametal posts loss for quarter, fiscal year
With the covid-19 pandemic slowing the global economy, Kennametal Corp. said Tuesday it has accelerated its modernization and restructuring that by next summer will have reduced its global workforce by 20% from when the cost-cutting measures began more than a year ago. The Pittsburgh-based company, which makes tools for metal...
Oldest U.S. retailer Lord & Taylor seeks bankruptcy protectionVideo
NEW YORK — Lord & Taylor, America’s oldest retailer, is seeking bankruptcy protection, as is the owner of Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Banks, lengthening the list of major retail chains that have faltered in the pandemic. Companies, some with roots dating to the early 19th century, were already suffering...
Stocks up on signs of industrial recovery, eyes on U.S. talksVideo
TOKYO — Wall Street is starting August with more gains, and U.S. stocks are climbing in early Monday trading following encouraging reports from around the world on the economy. The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher, tacking more gains onto its four-month winning streak, with Big Tech once again leading the...
As U.S. milk sales rise amid pandemic, ‘Got milk?’ ads return
The dairy industry has a familiar question for you: “Got milk?” Six years after the popular tagline was retired, “Got milk?” ads are back. A dairy industry-funded group is reviving the campaign, hoping to prolong the boost milk has gotten during the pandemic. U.S. milk sales have been in freefall...
With loan money gone, restaurants are at mercy of coronvirus
NEW YORK — The check has arrived and beleaguered restaurant owners across America are looking down on their empty wallets. Government covronavirus loans in the spring helped eating establishments rehire laid-off employees and ride out the pandemic’s initial surge and wave of shutdown orders. But that Paycheck Protection Program money...
‘Limping along’: Air travel still struggling to get off the ground in Western Pa.Video
Air travel through Pittsburgh International Airport and Arnold Palmer Regional Airport is showing modest signs of improvement but remains largely crippled as the industry continues to grapple with allaying passengers’ fears. Passenger volume at Pittsburgh International in June was up 113% over May, but the number of passengers — about...
Spirit Airlines warns of layoffs, ExpressJet’s fate in doubt
Spirit Airlines has warned up to 30% of its employees that they will lose their jobs in October, and regional carrier ExpressJet’s future is in doubt after losing a key contract as the virus pandemic continues to hammer the airline industry. Spirit is the latest airline to deliver layoff warnings...
U.S. consumer spending up 5.6%, but virus could stall gains
WASHINGTON — American consumers increased their spending in June by a solid 5.6%, helping regain some of record plunge that occurred after the coronavirus struck hard in March and paralyzed the economy. But the virus’ resurgence in much of the country could impede further gains. Last month’s rise in consumer...
Exxon lost $1B in second quarter as oil use dries up
NEW YORK — Exxon lost $1.1 billion in the second quarter, its economic pain deepening as the pandemic kept households on lockdown, diminishing the need for oil around the world. The Irving, Texas-based oil giant brought in $32.6 billion in revenue during the second quarter, less than half of what...
Amid the pandemic, Big Tech reports mixed earningsVideo
Big Tech companies reported mixed quarterly earnings on Thursday, a day after their top executives faced a tough congressional grilling over their market power and alleged monopolistic practices. All four were affected by the pandemic, although in strikingly different ways. Google and Facebook reported slowing growth in the April-June quarter...
Dunkin’ to shut down about 800 stores by end of 2020
Dunkin’ said it plans to shut down about 800 of its U.S. stores by the end of 2020, according to a release posted Thursday. There was no word on which stores would be closing. A new Dunkin’ store is set to open soon in East Huntingdon’s Countryside Plaza. The doughnut...
Record surge in daily shipping volumes for UPS in 2Q
A boom in online shopping during the pandemic pushed revenue higher at United Parcel Service Inc., which reported a $1.77 billion profit for the second quarter. UPS said Thursday that shipping volume jumped 23% to more than 21 million packages a day. Crucially, shipments from businesses to U.S. consumers soared...
1.4 million seek jobless aid as virus keeps forcing layoffs
WASHINGTON — More than 1.4 million laid-off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, further evidence of the devastation the coronavirus outbreak has unleashed on the U.S. economy. The continuing wave of job cuts is occurring against the backdrop of a spike in virus cases that has led many states...
4 Big Tech CEOs tell Congress they don’t stifle competitionVideo
WASHINGTON — The leaders of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google fended off accusations Wednesday that their companies stifle competition, under intense questioning from lawmakers who have been i nvestigating Big Tech’s market dominance for the past year. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, in his first appearance before Congress, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar...
U.S. expected to report record-breaking economic plunge
WASHINGTON — Having endured what was surely a record-shattering slump last quarter, the U.S. economy faces a dim outlook as a resurgent coronavirus intensifies doubts about any sustained recovery the rest of the year. A huge plunge in consumer spending as people stayed home and avoided shopping, traveling or gathering...
More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in June
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The number of Americans signing contracts to buy homes rose for the second straight month after a devastating spring freeze brought on by the coronavirus outbreak. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its index of pending sales rose 16.6%, to 116.1 in June. That’s...
Local lawmaker calling for end to sportsbook tax
A Pennsylvania lawmaker is calling for the elimination of “unnecessary” taxes on legal sportsbook operators. Regulated sports betting operators are required by the Internal Revenue Code to pay a 0.25% federal excise tax on all wagers as well as a $50 annual tax for every employee engaged in receiving bets,...
